other big story for the style, the fight for the senate. elizabeth warren and scott brown face-off again. >> i'll tell you the right way to watch the debates. you're in "the cycle" for tuesday, october 2nd. we're sizing up the candidates before tomorrow's fight night in denver. "the cycle's" ringside for all the action. the weigh-in is over, and now it's time to enter the ring. in one corner, president obama "no drama" obama and in the other governor williard mitt tens romney. both are keeps expectations low but both step into the ring with plenty of debate experience in the past five years. can either deliver a knockout punch without going below the bench? do we search body punches over job plans?

will romney be over the ropes for taxes, bill obama be bum rushed for specifics. will jim lair send them to certain corners. after some debate of our own, we compiled our own list of what to watch. wasn't easy. here's a glimpse into the editorial brainstorm. >> the president has a double-edged sword being the president, because he's got a lot of command of detail, he understands policies, but the expectations are also high and he can come across as a little too arrogant. >> i vote for hates romney as a weakness for obama. to the strength of the president, he knows everything and he's been there and done that for three and a half years, so you can't stump them. >> toure says the president knows everything. romney's clear weakness is awkward and gaffe-prone. >> when he strays off the script

and the stuff he knows to talk about, he's likely to see the $10,000 thing. >> i'm happy with gaffe-prone. i don't think he's slow on his feet at all. >> i would say questional improvization skills. >> he has the ability to communicate with a soft touch. he doesn't come across as brazen or jerky. >> i don't know if i agree with that. >> romney's strength, zingers? >> maybe. >> what was romney -- >> i think romney is -- i think he's a sharp, on-message attacker. >> lots of practice. >> he's had six years of practice. >> so after all that -- it was like a mensa meeting -- here's what we came up with. obama's strength is that he's the president. also, surprising. yes, he is the president. romney's -- you know, with the -- being an incumbent there's strengths along with that, and as toure says he knows

everything. romney's strength is he's strong on message. when he's scripted and delivering a message, he does it well. romney's weakness on the contrary is when he has to ad-lib. he's bad at ad-libbing. he failing into making ill-fated bets, saying thing he shouldn't say. obama's weakness is that he hates romney. that's a weakness, because obama does have this tendency to come off as being a little arrogant, kond sending. that can be unlikeable. let me bring in our guest, jonathan allen, senior correspondent at politico. who do you think about the list? >> i think you guys hit for "the cycle" clearly. to mix the sports metaphors. >> i like that. >> i think you guys missed an important tale of the tape that mitt romney is 6'2" and 200 pounds. barack obama is 6'1" and 175. romney is a little more plotting

as a fighter, a little bit more mechanical. obama perhaps a little lighter but maybe not punching quite as hard. if you're looking for a fight scorecard, look at those metrics to start. one other thing that i think is important to remember in this. you talk about the advantage of presidency, but there's a disadvantage, which is a rhetorical strength barack obama didn't have the last time he debated. anything he says about a foreign country can be judged in diplomatic terms when he talks about issues and congress. these are blow up. he knows too much in a way and has to figure out how to bring back the knowledge set to what he says publicly both from a legal and sort of intelligence standpoint and also just from a good politicliolitical standpoi. >> he knows too much. >> jonathan, i think i can count on you to be objective with me.

some would argue that obama has been given something of a pass on his record over the past year, and this might be the first real opportunity face-to-face to be pressed on his broken promises and record highs. high-d deaf sights and poverty d spending, on and on. from what you know of our friend, jim lair, do you expect these kinds of tough questions to come out in the debates? >> one of the talents of jim lair is the ability to ask questions that really reveal a lot from the people that he has as guests on his show or in a debate setting. not to put swuns on the defensive, but they can hang themselves with their own words sometimes. it's interesting to watch that interplay. >> with the exception of chris christ christie, both sides are trying to lower expectations in the debate in the last two weeks. the daily show had an amusing take on that last night.

>> you're with the romney camp. how is he doing? >> you hate to beat an uphill battle like this. this is a president, the greater or for this country has seen since lincoln. >> you're with the president. >> the frightened president, john. like little girl scared. i mean, mitt romney, talk about brilliant. two harvard degrees. the guy has never even lost an argument. >> he's no slouch. i mean, he's the president. >> smoke and mirrors. right now they're drilling him on basic grammar skills. >> romney's people just hope he remains upright. he's a big napper, john. big napper. mitt romney, 90 minutes awake and upright means big win for the camp. >> so jonathan, pugh had an interesting poll showing that president obama is expected to win the debate by a51% and mitt romney by 29%. it seems like president obama is more highly anticipated as the

winner of the debate. do these sort of expectations setting games actually work for voters? >> i don't think they matter too much for the voters. it's a lot of fun for us to talk about. you know, as the comedy that you were just playing before suggested, if either one of these guys gets a complete sentence out, it should be a surprise to all of us. look, i think that it -- it matters a little bit on the margins, working the reporters who then report to the public. by and large i think the public is pretty good at making its own judgments. i don't think people walk in going, well, my expectations is about a 4, so if he gets a 6, i'll vote for him. if he gets a 5, no way. i don't think it works that way for most voters. >> i saw an interesting tweet come across the twitter this morning from carole simpson. she said debates are about style

and not substance, despite what campaigns say. does he look and sound good is he personable? that's your winner. do you think she's right? we're not talking about substance, which we talk about on the trail and in conventions for months now. it's about the style and interpersonal intelligence from each guy? >> i've known carole simpson since i was a little kid, and she's dead-on here. this is judged and gauged not just on the substance. certainly there will be fact checkers and politico and others get into the substance of what they said. most voters look for other cues. they look for leadership and strength. they look for things that aren't necessarily in the words of the answer but a lot of times in the dlifry of them. >> this is interesting to me. when this debate ends tomorrow night we're looking for who is the winner. that's always the question. there will be instant polls by the end of the broadcast tomorrow nice. there is the instant reaction,

you know, maybe voters say obama won it by a few points or romney or whatever. when you look at the debates that married in the pa mattered there's a delay there of a few days for a pundit class consensus to take hold that shapes the coverage in the days ahead that treats one cannot as being momentum that treats the other because of a bad performance. i can think of two examples of this. the first is 2000 when it was bush and al gore. when they signed off that night, nobody talked about al gore signing. the story was bush had great debat debates. in 1984 with reagan sxhoand mon, and people said reagan won. the story was reagan blanked out during the debate and he's 79 years old. >> the sign, i can imagine if it happened today, twitter would

pick up on it and it would part of the media conversation almost immediately. i wonder if the response is speeded up over the years. >> i'm sure that has something to do with. >> jonathan, i got to ask. you got a little thing for joe biden? explain your piece in politico today about joe biden being sexy. >> we asked the question about whether joe biden is sexy, and it's asked in this context. is he bringing sexy back to the medicare set? basically joe biden has been out on the campaign trail and he flirts a lot. the people that take the best to it are women in 50s, 60, 70. >> i take to it jonathan. >> it works for krystal. >> even younger than that. you're 24, 25, right? >> thank you, thank you. >> we're constantly seeing these pictures with the vice president with his arm over women and leading in really close. >> it's gross.

>> it's dramatic. >> does he kiss women on the lips, on the cheek? he grabbed a biker chick and almost pulled her into his lap. he's all over the place. >> jonathan, thanks for looking into it. we appreciate it. >> on top of the important issues. >> thanks, jonathan. >> up next, stumbles, grumbles and did he really just say that moments from another big debates last night. political smackdown massachusetts style as "the cycle" rolls on for tuesday october 2nd. [ man ] ring ring... progresso this reduced sodium soup says it may help lower cholesterol, how does it work? you just have to eat it as part of your heart healthy diet. step 1. eat the soup. all those veggies and beans, that's what may help lower your cholesterol and -- well that's easy [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup. woman: what do you mean, homeowners insurance doesn't cover floods? [ heart rate increases ]

man: a few inches of water caused all this? [ heart rate increases ] woman #2: but i don't even live near the water. what you don't know about flood insurance may shock you -- including the fact that a preferred risk policy starts as low as $129 a year. for an agent, call the number that appears on your screen. for the spender who needs a little help saving. for adding "& sons." for the dreamer, planning an early escape. for the mother of the bride. for whoever you are, for whatever you're trying to achieve, pnc has technology, guidance, and over 150 years of experience to help you get there. ♪

can you name some republicans in the senate today that you are able to work with on big issues, substantive issues that the country fakeses? >> probably richard lugar would be one that comes to mind. >> he's not going to be there. >> he's not going to be there. >> who else could you name, senator? >> that is a problem. >> who is your model supreme court justice? >> let me see here. that's a great question. i think judge scalia is a very good judge. judge justice kennedy. if you're going to comment on my record, i would at least have you refer to -- >> can we -- >> excuse me. >> don't interrupt. >> excuse me. i'm not a student in your classroom. please let me respond, okay? thank you. >> fireworks from last night's debates, and my favorite senate race right now, scott brown versus elizabeth warren. it's my favorite because it's a

culture clash putting town versus gown. the red sox versus the head of the charles regatta. the real clear politics of polls has warren ahead by two. this race is far from over, and that brings us to the spin cycle. scott brown was the nice guy, the regular guy, the real guy. he has sacrificed that entirely in the way he's attacker her. he looks like a bully. she doesn't attack back. we talked about that women can't attack back. the way he's pounding on her is really not good for his image. i think it will aaffect his future, and he seems kind of dumb in the way he continually attacks her on this american indian point. does she look like an american indian? no. does derek jeter look black? no. that's not the way modern race works. it's not a biological reality, and i don't think he understands that. even when they talk about the

red sox at the end, he's pounding on her talking about, well she shot they'd win 90 games. buster thought they would win 90 games. she's rooting for the hometown team, and he's beating on her. what's that about? >> you know, i would disagree a little. i think scott brown's strategy here is to play on elizabeth warren's extreme dislikability. her affect, her professional nature. he's doing that for every audience outside of harvard square and outside of cambridge. the massachusetts that i know from growing up, i knew five sullys in lowell, massachusetts who would use the word professor to insult someone. this is the mentality outside of a very small, privileged community in massachusetts that scott brown is trying to appeal to. i think you saw a minute of that at his opening -- closing statement. let's play that. >> listen, i'm from here. i grew up here.

i married a girl and went to school here. aside from my marriage to gail in 26 years and the birth of my two kids, being your united states senator has been the greatest honor i've had in my life. >> i'm from here. that's the message of the scott brown campaign. he's trying to make the nativist argument, which which is i know massachusetts in a wau don't. >> i grew up a few miles from lowell. i know those people, too. >> where is your accent? maybe when you run for senate -- >> the dirty secret is my parents are from connecticut, but i grew up there. i know those people and i know what scott brown is going after with that. he's spent a lot of advertising money on sports radio in massachusetts just talking about how he's a patriots fan, red sox fans and celtics fan trying to reach the voters. i think you overstate what you call the unlikability of elizabeth warren, but there was a poll released this sunday that has her up five points from over

scott brown. it tested likability. scott brown, 53/33. good, healthy rating. elizabeth warren, 33-36. the same thing. warren's challenge not more popular and better liked than scott brown. her challenge is to be popular enough and well-liked enough that the strong inclination of the voter will kick in. right now we see it kick in. she has taken the lead now in every poll taken since labor day. there's a real risk for scott brown. with his likability coming down, 53 to 33 is a drop for him, there's a risk he's alienating swing voters and it could kogs cost him the election. if you talk to republicans in massachusetts, the great fall back plan is this. scott brown loses this year, the governor ship is open in 2014. he's an ideal candidate to run for governor of massachusetts because of the likability. the party label is not as much

of a hindrance. 53/33. he's no longer the most popular in massachusetts? someone more popular is an attorney general named martha coakley. scott brown, if he loses this race and tries the governor, good chance the opony net is martha coakley. it could be ended by the woman. >> for people not from massachusetts, he beat her in 2010. >> right. she could have the last laugh still. >> it's not mitt romney the most popular politician in massachusetts? i'm surprised by that. i'm the lone nonbase stater at the table, so i will leave the hard analysis to you three. there was a moment that really annoyed me last night. let's take a look. >> does bobby valentine deserve another year, or should he be fired? >> you know, i had such hopes

for bobby valentine. i'm still just in wounded mode on that one. >> stick around. should he be given another chance or be fired? this is the back page of the boston herald we're talking about tomorrow morning. you have to commit. >> then i give him another year. >> give him another year. >> senator. >> i remember in the beginning of the season that professor warren said the red sox would win 90 games and that hasn't happened and it's very, very disappointing. i'll leave that up to the red sox management, but we need to do better next year. >> you won't commit one way or another? >> there's a lot of problems they need to work out for themselves. >> there's a bit of martha coakley history as well. she incorrectly said curt schilling was the yankees fan. this is touted as the reason for the explosion of the campaign. elizabeth warren has to deal with gotcha red sox questions.

it doesn't matter. that was the last moment in the debate, and it's one thing if you throw it out like a puffy, ha ha red sox we all like massachusetts. to actually like force her to take a position on this like it's important to the election, it really bugged me. >> that moment too reeked of sexism to me that you have to prove you're within the boys club, it's on the back page of herald. can you talk about the sox? >> the official position of every politician when asked about a sports team is they're going to win every game they play. it's baffling to watch brown to say 90 wins. he's supposed to say she's going to win 90 wins. >> president of red sox nation, that job is filled by my dad. it's not open. >> wow. >> sorry, elizabeth we aarren. if you wanted it, not available. >> i didn't know that. up next, a potential hot topic when they debate health care. meet the filmmaker putting the heat on the industry with the

new doc, escape fire. warren will be the president but eric beat will always be the president. eric, drop that beat. ♪ i came in the door i said it before ♪ ♪ i never let the mike magnetize me no more ♪ ♪ i can't hold it back ♪ i'm looking for the line ♪ taking off my coat now from the maker of splenda sweeteners, discover nectresse. the only 100% natural, no-calorie sweetener made from the goodness of fruit. the rich, sweet taste of sugar. nothing artificial. ♪ it's all that sweet ever needs to be. new nectresse. sweetness naturally.

boring. boring. [ jack ] after lauren broke up with me, i went to the citi private pass page and decided to be...not boring. that's how i met marilyn... giada... really good. yes!

[ jack ] ...and alicia. ♪ this girl is on fire [ male announcer ] use any citi card to get the benefits of private pass. more concerts, more events, more experiences. [ jack ] hey, who's boring now? [ male announcer ] get more access with the citi card. [ crowd cheering, mouse clicks ]

tomorrow night expect two men who essentially passed the same health care legislation to take two very different positions on it. romney recently said he considers it a compliment to be called the grandfather of obama care, though he promises to repeal it if he's president. president obama is running on the signature legislation. he told personal stories to remind voters of the impact it has had. a new poll shows it divides us with 32% in favor and 36% opposed and the rest indifferent. no matter what you think of

obama care, one thing that's not up for debate, our current for-profit system is broken and hurting those it's supposed to help. >> how do we come do believe that the only way to treat disease is by giving drugs? >> it's a microcosm with the society has. >> soldiers' use of prescription drugs has tril pepled. >> when you're deployed they feed you this to keep you going. mission, mission, mission. medications i was on. >> that is from the new documentary escape fire, the fight to rescue american health care in theaters october 5th. in the guest spot today is the film's director and producer matthew heinemann. thank you for being with us. >> thanks for having me. >> what inspired you to create this film now, and what do you hope viewers get from it? >> we started to make the film

about three years ago, just as the health care debate was heating up. like many americans we were confused by what was happening. there's so much dividing our country. we want to figure out how the system is broken and why it didn't want to change and highlight those fixing it as well. >> we showed in the intree there the story of sergeant yates injured in afghanistan, became addicted to painkillers when he came back and eventually through acupuncture and meditation dealt with his pain and get off the drugs he was taking. so the military really leading the way in sort of experimenting with new procedures going forward. is that true outside of just the alternative therapies you show there? is the military grate breeding ground for trying out new things in health care? >> the military is the only single payer system in america. they're forced to innovate. i really commend the military

for, one, acknowledging they have this problem of overmedication. it's really a microcosm for the rest of the america. they recognize this problem, and they're trying to address it. it's a perfect example of an escape fire, which is sort of an outside of box idea. it's this idea that these simple solutions are right in front of us. why can't we pay attention to them? >> we agree that the current system is not working, but you talk about in your film a shortage of primary care givers, and i know that a lot of doctors have come out and talked about how they might retire as a result of some of the changes they're anticipating in the affordable care act. should we worry about this evaporating pool of skilled doctors and care givers in the future? >> there's already a shortage. with 30 more million people entering the pool, there's more of a shortage. for sure this is something we need to worry about. i think one of the most surprising things for us is it's

not just patients who aren't happy, it's doctors who aren't happy. we see it with the story of dr. martin, a primary care doctor handcuffed by the system. she can't practice the medicine she wants to practice. she's forced to see a revolving door of patients. >> we look at the cost and expense of the health care system. can you identify one specific -- is there one major inefficiencies, one premier inefficient in our system, and what is it? >> we can talk an hour about that. we have a disease care system sxnt a health care system. it's a system that profits on sickness and not on health. 75% of health care costs go to preventible diseases. we need to figure out how to address this problem and how to become a healthier nation. >> the health care discussion is incredibly important, but for a lot of people for audience members it's like vegetables. as a filmmaker, how do you make a compelling film about an issue that a lot of people don't want

to go to the movie theater and talk about? >> i think health care is one of the our biggest challenges. how do you make it entertaining. it's a boring, wanky subject. we tried to find powerful, human stores to force audiences to keep watching. we follow the story as you mentioned of the injured soldier coming out of afghanistan and his struggle to get off of the sort of monsoon of drugs that he's on. we also follow the story of a young idealistic doctor. to combat the problem, we really tried to find powerful human narratives that would be punctuated by a course of experts as well. >> it's a powerful film. thanks so much for joining us. >> thanks for having me. >> straight ahead, the issue both parties got all wrong. [ male announcer ] there are only so many foods

that make kids happy. and even fewer that make moms happy too. with wholesome noodles and bite sized chicken, nothing brings you together like chicken noodle soup from campbell's. it's amazing what soup can do.

our next guest claims both parties are to blame for failing to making scientific advances. we're talking about clean energy to space to stem-cell research to name a few. can science stay objective out of politics? alex is co-author of science left behind, feel good fallacies in the rise of the anti-scientific left. welcome. >> thank you for having me on. >> sure. you argue here that for all of the talk about republicans being the enemy of science, anti-scientific rhetoric is a by partisan project. tell me how you came to this opinion that democrats are not necessarily the party of science. >> well, on a whole host of issues, so as you know, on the

right the conservatives are wrong on evolution and on climate change, and there's this it media narrative that somehow anti-science believes are unique to the right side of the political spectrum. what i found through reading a lot of science is basically that the left side also has some pet ideas not lining up with the scientific mainstream. for instance, opposition to genetic modification. the california democratic party endorsed this proportion to label food in direct opposition to the american medical association. the anti-vaccine movement started on the left even though it spread beyond those confines and also opposition to natural gas. there's a whole host of issues. i found that the left is not always pro-science. >> in a lot of ways, science like religion, has been co-oped by politics and is used to strans an agenda by both sides. how can we retain a faith in science when even science journalists can't be trusted

anymore it seems? >> well, i think that sometimes -- you are right that sometimes science journalists can fall prey to hype and fall prey to political biases. the best way to avoid that is to have people more engaged in actual reading of like scientific journals or read more addition read the news arm of, for instance "nature." if people read more scientific journals and get the general gist of what a scientific article says, you can go right to the source and learn right from the source and read a wide variety of viewpoints in science. that's what we do at real clear science. we have as many viewpoints as possible. >> alex, i wouldn't make the claim that everyone on the left is pro-science and everyone on the right is anti-science. certainly you have written about this. people on the left have pushed the idea of a link between vaccines and autism, and i think

that's very troubling and worth pointing out. you're putting in an equivalent see here. that's a different matter. this is one example why that is unfair to say. i think of the republican party platform right now on the issue of climate change. in the republican party platform it's referred to in square quotes as if it's not a real thing. mitt romney said he's not sure how much humans have to do with this. other republicans have gone farther and basically jim inhoff said this is a total coax. there is a prevalence of that mindset to challenge the climate change on right. it's far more prominent and prevalent on the right than the left. you can say there's issues with the left in science, but there's no equivalent see here, is there? >> i would agree and disagree. i think that you're right that the republican party has really rejected climate change as a science, and i think that's a very bad thing.

however, you don't always have to have people in charge dictating how it goes. you have the anti-vaccine movement. you had high profile democrats embrace it. for instance, robert f. kennedy jr., and there's democrats who are opposed to genetic modification, the california democratic party. i don't know if it's part of their platform, but it is their position for this election in 2012. >> that's not presidential candidates. that's a one prominent democrat, that's one state party. when you have -- we talk about republicans at a presidential debate. three republican candidates raise their hand saying we don't believe in evolution. where is the democratic equivalent of that? >> barack obama in 2008 said that vaccines might cause autism, and in 2008 it was well-known by then that vaccines didn't cause autism. hillary clinton said the same thing and so did john mccain. all three made the connection

between thimerosol with a trace of mercury in it. that's been debunked. >> again, you're talking about dabbling in some theories, and completely grant you that it's troubling when you talk about people on the left that pushed this idea of a vaccine/autism link. that's troubling and needs to be called out. when you talk about as a party, mitt romney's in his acceptance speech at republican convention mocked the idea of combating climate change. he talked about obama promising to slow the rise of the oceans and heal the planet. he mocked it, and it was a huge applause line. you have a republican party platform using scare quotes to talk about climate change. you have republicans in major positions of influence in the congress saying it's a complete hoax. that's totally out of whack with the kind of hostility of science you see overall on the left. >> so my response to that would be that, see, you're focusing more on the republican party and the democratic party, and that's

not the point of the book. the point is to talk about progressive ideologies. what elements lead people down anti-scientific paths? we tackle myths like the idea that natural things are better, that unnatural things are bad for you. those are the myths we tackle. those have become pervasive in the culture. so that's why we don't focus -- we purposefully try not to talk about partisan politics. we don't make an ekwif lens between republicans and democrats. we talk about ideas common on the left, which lead people toward anti-scientific thinking. i think that if you look culturally, if you look through progressive culture, you will see these ideas about rejecting vaccines and embracing organic food, even though lots of studies show there's no difference. those are the kinds of ideas we're talking about. we're purposefully not talking about political parties, republicans versus democrats. >> thanks for the book, alex,

and thanks for joining us. >> thanks for having me. >> our favorite presidential debate moments. i can't wait. another one of our favorites "the cycle." >> if it's mitt romney first time at the rodeo i bet jennifer granholm thinks the president has an enormous advantage. >> the president is going to lose the first debate. he's just not a great debater. >> look whose feelings about barack obama came back to her. i guess what happened in charlotte stayed in charlotte. >> many american markets broke down, who jump started our engine? barack obama! when america needed him most, who got us rolling again on the road to recovery? >> let me ask you this, people! who couldn't get laid in a whorehouse with a fist fun of hundreds? barack obama.

americans are hoping for a few magic moments during the debate. we thought it was fun to look backwards and talk about our favorite debate moments throughout history. experts disagree how much the debates affect the voters.

there's no question they shape how we recommend the elections. we all thought about this and came up with a signature moment from debates past. i'll lead it off. i had a lot that came to my mind, but one stands out from 1992. bill clinton and george bush sr. and ross perot. it was the first die bait that year. the back story was george bush won the white house by sort of playing on patriotism themes. flag burns issues like this. really in my ways seemed to question dukakis's pati patriot. here comes bill clinton. he was at oxford during the vietnam war and participating in protests over there. george bush sr. on the campaign trail and the republicans started to play this up and coming close to questioning the

patriotism of xwlibill clinton. bush brought it up and they went to clinton for a response. they think it can work here again. this is when we learned what a great and masterful communicator bill clinton is. this is how he handled it. >> i honor your service in world war ii. i honor mr. perot's service in the uniform and the service of any man and women who served, including admiral who is your chairman of the joint chiefs supporting me. when joe mccarthy went around this country attacking people's patriotism, he was wrong. he was wrong. and a senator from connecticut stood up to him named prescott bush, your father was right to stand up to joe mccarthy. you are wrong to attack my patriotism. i was opposed to the war, but i loved my country. we need a president who will bring this country together, not divide it. we've had enough division. i want to lead a unified country. >> a great moment. >> looks like he was prepared for that one. >> that was brilliant.

i didn't know you were coming from na debate, and i'm in the same debate in my favorite pick. this is a beautiful moment from the little guy. run ross perot. >> to those of you in the audience that are business people, pretty simple. if i pay $14 an hour for factory workers and you can move your factory south of the border and pay a dollar an hour for labor and don't care about anything but making money, there will be a giant sucking sound going south. >> a giant sucking sound going south. what a great line. >> i miss ross perot. my moment is also something of a sucking sound. let's play that. >> i believe in expiration for example in alaska. i've had a record of appointing judges in the state of the texas. that's what the governor gets to do. that's not what america is meant to be. an expiration in alaska. there's a lot of shut-in gas. secondly the difference is. >> i mean, that would be so

annoyi annoying. i can't think of a more annoying tic to have to work through in a debate. >> i'm going to do that during your rant today. >> no, no. >> is very recent history involving one willard "mitt" romney. let's take a look. >> you referred to individual mandates, my friend. >> you know what? you have raised that before, rick. >> it was true then. >> no. >> it's true now. >> rick, i'll tell you what, 10,000 bucks, $10,000 bet? >> i'm not in the betting business. >> south carolina misses -- s.e. misses ross perot. i miss rick perry. >> eats like what are you talking about? >> i love james who said if romney had said $1 million bucks it would have obviously been

hyperbolic. romney had instinctively found the wrong number. so stment mattic of his whole campaign. >> i thought rick perry's campaign flamed out soon thereafter. i thought you know what he's missing in that moment? the zinger. the quick comeback. which is a perfect segue to part two of this block because the romney campaign has been telegraphing the idea that mitt romney will be equipped with a series of sort of devastating putdowns, zingers as they call them, at tomorrow night's debate where he can just sort of, you know, cut barack obama down to size with a very quick quip. i think obviously you think in history of, there you go again, ronald reagan and jimmy carter. that seems to be what they're going for. we thought let's come up with our own suggested zingers or mitt romney. >> we're all about helping out romney. >> i came up with one. i'll lead it off. maybe romney can say something like barack obama is almost as unreliable as my backup yacht.

zing. >> zing! >> mine is even worse than that. >> impossible. >> barack obama, try baracko'pologizes for america. >> zinger. >> mine is want to hear a joke? the national debt. zing! >> i like the sound effect. >> i imagine romney might actually say to paraphrase "top gun" your ego is writing checks your government can't cash. >> you misunderstood the assignment. >> i got a good one from nick who helps us out. tough on foreign policy. even his hairline is receding. >> that's good. >> that's good. >> yeah, no. it's amazing to me when you look at these and you see this, it

can be funnier not in presidential debates, senate races, house races, where they show up and try too hard and often you find that's their undoing. >> i was going to say, i think we have adequately demonstrated that maybe the zinger strategy not going to work. >> not good. >> not presidential. >> we'll just say, wow, he was surprisingly sober and presidential. >> at least now we'll all be looking for the zingers during the debate. >> best zingers don't appear as though they are zingers written and canned months ago. there you go again. they seem very smooth. >> reagan in '84 had that line they work eed on when he blanke out in the first debate. they said you're 73 years old, are you really up to the job. he said i do not think age should be an issue in this campaign. i will not exploit for political purposes my opponent's youth and inexperience. >> but he's bean actor.

it seemed to natural. >> up next, by now we have clearly established that the first presidential debate is tomorrow night. but will you watch? well, for those still on the fence, stay tuned. s.e. has some ways to turn it into a virtual night out on the town. can't wait. [ female announcer ] did you know the average person smiles more than 50 times a day? so brighten your smile a healthy way with listerine® whitening plus restoring rinse. it's the only rinse that makes your teeth two shades whiter and two times stronger. ♪ listerine® whitening... power to your mouth. listerine® whitening... thank you, mr. speaker, uh, members of congress. in celebration of over 75 years of our government employees insurance company, or geico...as most of you know it. ...i propose savings for everyone! i'm talking hundreds here... and furthermore.. newcaster: breaking news. the gecko is demanding free pudding. and political parties that are actual parties! with cake! and presents! ah, that was good. too bad nobody could hear me.

geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. that's a good thing, but it doesn't cover everything. only about 80% of your part b medical expenses. the rest is up to you. so consider an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. like all standardized medicare supplement plans, they help save you up to thousands in out-of-pocket costs. call today to request a free decision guide. with these types of plans, you'll be able to visit any doctor or hospital that accepts medicare patients... plus, there are no networks, and you'll never need a referral to see a specialist. join the millions who have already enrolled in the only medicare supplement insurance plans endorsed by aarp... and provided by unitedhealthcare insurance company, which has over 30 years of experience behind it. with all the good years ahead, look for the experience and commitment

to go the distance with you. call now to request your free decision guide. check out the latest collection of snacks from lean cuisine. creamy spinach artichoke dip, crispy garlic chicken spring rolls. they're this season's must-have accessory. lean cuisine. be culinary chic.

tomorrow night millions of americans will tune in to watch the first debate between president obama and mitt romney, and millions more will not. one look at your trusty tv guide and it's easy to see why. your favorite wednesday night shows like modern family, x

factor and something called law and order are all preempted but you will take sports over a night of politics, right? who would want to watch two out of touch politicians answer questions when the tigers are playing the royals in ksansas city. you probably think the debates are really boring or you decided who you are voting for in may like normal people. what you need is a twitter buddy. what's a twitter buddy? it's a debate ambassador of sorts and it will save your life. pick a few. watching a live debate while following your favorite twitter personalities will make a wonky and depressing live puppet show super fun. good debate twitter buddies fit the following criteria. they let you know when to drink because that's important. and you need a list of words so you know when to do that.

twel out word for word debate one-liners they deem important in case you can't tell. for you old folks this is like delayed closed captioning, helpful. post snarky insider sounding comments you won't understand like i bet henrik liked that one, or five caper household, where are we oslo? retweet and sound smart. if you include one of the crazier celebrities on twitter like roseanne, cher, or jose canse canseco, they will make you feel like a political savant with the right collection of twitter buddies, 90 minutes will fly by in no time. you will laugh, you will cry, you will get tipsy, and you will leave informed by the real people that matter like alec baldwin. yes, i am available tomorrow night. i'd love to be your twitter buddy. you bring the wine, i will bring the snark, and together we can turn this debate into a rocki